Newsletter

Activities ::: mod_newsletter
Maintained by it's meDavid Bogner, Wunderbyte LogoWunderbyte GmbH
This is a newsletter module for moodle. First stable release. It provides the basic features of common newsletter tools. Using it with moodle VERP bounce processing is recommended. But we will add an additional bounce processing feature that will be easier to configure.
Latest release:
292 sites
148 downloads
52 fans
Current versions available: 6

Newsletter module

This is a typical newsletter module for moodle. The features are:


  • Subscription methods: Opt in, opt out, forced
  • Management of subscribed users: Cohort (un)subscription, Ajax user (un)subscription, filtering users
  • Auto generated unsubscribe link
  • Subscription of not yet registered users
  • Multiple attachments
  • Stylesheet: Attach a stylesheet and it will be converted to inline CSS (this is necessary for mail clients)
  • Report of sent issues
  • Resuming sending newsletter if there was a problem so that all recipients will get the newsletter
  • Prevent duplicate message sending
  • Issues overview with sort options: year/month/week
  • Uses moodle internal VERP bounce system, if it is configured correctly
  • Easy to use bounce processing: Just setup the mailbox for the noreply adress defined in the moodle configuration and it will automatically add bounce processing to all the newsletters
  • Personalised newsletters: Supported replacement are (The pattern format starting with news:// makes it possible to use in in links without being modified by the editor):
    • issueurl (URL pointing to the current issue for web view)
      Pattern for replacement: news://issueurl/
    • issuelink  (a full html link pointing to the web view of the current issue)
       Pattern for replacement: news://issuelink/
    • firstname (First name of the user, the newsletter is sent to)
      Pattern for replacement: news://firstname/
    • fullname 
      Pattern for replacement: news://fullname/

Upcoming features

  • Tracking of read newsletter issues
  • Statistics
  • Templates engine

Screenshots

Screenshot #0
Screenshot #1

Contributors

it's me
David Bogner (Lead maintainer)
Wunderbyte Logo
Wunderbyte GmbH: Product owner
Please login to view contributors details and/or to contact them

Comments RSS

Comments

  • it's me
    Mon, 30 Oct 2017, 5:17 PM
    Hi, yes. There has been a delay due to some reorganisation. But there will be support for 3.3 coming in 2017.
  • Dino Schachten
    Wed, 10 Jan 2018, 12:07 AM
    First of all: Thanks for this promising plugin. Now my question: How do I use this plugin? I don't see any documentation anywhere...
  • it's me
    Fri, 12 Jan 2018, 4:11 PM
    HI Dino. The plugin works quite similar to the forum module. You just have to do the e-mail settings right in order to have correct bounce processing. Kind regards, David
  • Dino Schachten
    Wed, 7 Feb 2018, 12:55 AM
    Thank you, David. I can't seem to figure out how to use a custom stylesheet? How do I get Stylesheets to show up in the dropdown menu?
    In the features list it says "Attach a stylesheet and it will be converted". But the only way of attaching one that I am aware of (uploading it as an attachment) doesn't seem to do anything...
  • it's me
    Wed, 7 Feb 2018, 6:45 PM
    Hi Dino, so you upload the CSS as follows:

    1) Create a newsletter instance (add activity newsletter, usually you do this on the frontpage if you want to have all site users, or in a course if you want target course users)
    2) IN the settings of the newsletter upload the CSS-stylesheet mentioned below
    3) Save the instance
    4) When creating a new issue, select the stylesheet from the dropdown
    5) Paste the HTML (mentioned below) in your editor
    6) Edit the content to your needs

    In order to have a good looking newsletter we recommend to do some Copy/Paste. Because designing mails is really difficult. Example:

    1) Download an example from there: https://zurb.com/playground/responsive-email-templates (direct link: https://zurb.com/playground/uploads/upload/upload/126/responsive-email-templates.zip )
    2) Upload the CSS provided in the settings mentioned above
    3) Copy/Paste the HTML into your Newseltter issue.

    Another approach would be to user professional software for e-mail design and then copy/paste the results into the editor. Something like that: https://beefree.io/

    Kind regards,
    DAvid

  • Benedetto Zambetti
    Sun, 4 Mar 2018, 10:12 PM
    Thank yo Mr. Bogner for the plugin. However, I've a problem with emails. My default smtp works because when i subscribe new users the emails arrive, but for this plugin emails aren't sent. What is the problem? Is it possible to view a tracelog to check errors in sending emails?
    Sorry for my bad english, I'm Italian.
  • it's me
    Thu, 8 Mar 2018, 12:14 AM
    Hi Benedetto Zambetti. So cronjob will be your best friend for sending the mails. Thank you also for your private message.
    Good luck with sending newsletters.
  • Georg Wiesinger
    Tue, 27 Mar 2018, 11:23 PM
    Hi, David! Is there any possibility to change the Newsletter's outgoing email address without changing Moodles noreply-address which is used by default?

    Kind regards,
    George
  • it's me
    Wed, 28 Mar 2018, 3:54 AM
    Hi,

    this is not possible. But the user who creates the newsletter will be used for the "Reply to" address. That means, when you click on the reply button in the mail, the mail is sent to the e-mail address of the user who created the newsletter issue.

    Kind regards,
    David
  • Georg Wiesinger
    Fri, 13 Apr 2018, 6:30 PM
    Hi David,

    thanks for your answer! I created a couple of newsletter issues using different users and different roles (trainer & manager, administrator as well)! Unfortunately the reply-to-address in all newsletters is the noreply-address defined in Moodle's mail settings! I also checked if the users affected have set up their profiles to not show their email addresses to anyone, but actually it is configured to show it to everybody. Am I doing something wrong?

    Moodle 3.4.1+
    Newsletter 1.3.3

    Kind regards,
    George
  • it's me
    Sat, 14 Apr 2018, 7:02 AM
    Hi Georg,

    how did you test? Usually you see as sender the noreply address, but when you click on reply, then the email of the person who wrote the issue will be used as the reply address. Tested with 1.3.3

    Kind regards,
    David
  • Georg Wiesinger
    Thu, 19 Apr 2018, 4:04 PM
    Hi David,

    it is unfortunately not working for me! I tested this quite simple:

    - I created a newsletter issue with a user having trainer rights.
    - Then waited for the newsletter issue per email.
    - Received email sender is noreply@, replyto-address is noreply@ as well.
    - After clicking on reply the replyto-address does not change an still is the noreply@ address.

    Did all the tests with different users and roles, always the same behavior!

    What am I doing wrong?

    Moodle 3.4.2+ (Build: 20180418)
    Newsletter 1.3.3

    Kind regards,
    George
  • Georg Wiesinger
    Thu, 3 May 2018, 2:52 PM
    Good morning David,

    any chance to get further support regarding my issue?!

    Many thanks in advance!

    Kind regards,
    George
  • Bert van der Hooft
    Mon, 21 May 2018, 2:35 PM
    Hi David,

    Any chance for an update (moodle 3.5)?

    Bert
  • it's me
    Mon, 28 May 2018, 8:04 PM
    Hi Bert,

    yes there will be an update. But implementation of GDPR and other API adaptations are quite time consuming. We are not upgrading to 3.5 before September, so if you want to have it earlier than that, you can always contract me.

    Kind regards,
    David
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